Michael Coleman, professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and one of the lead authors of the study told TOI that one reason for the low survival rates in India could be that equitable access to early diagnosis and optimal treatment is not yet available for all people in India.
"Some of the most advanced medical facilities in the world can be found in Mumbai (for example), but they are out of reach of the vast majority of the Indian population," he said.
"The inequality in India may be extreme, but inequalities in access to cancer diagnosis and treatment exist in very many countries, including the USA and the UK, even if the disparities may be more severe in India than in some more developed countries," he added.
Another reason for India's low survival rates is patients do not (or cannot) fully comply with the treatment decided by the doctors and follow-up is also patchy, says A Nandakumar, director of the National Cancer Registry Programme at Bangalore who was associated with the study.
"Accessibility, affordability, lack of awareness about the nature of the disease and the need for periodic checkups and several other socioeconomic factors could contribute (to the low survival rates in India)," Nandakumar said.
